


Medium

by pastel_wendigo



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Jack Frost - Freeform, Jack's Family - Freeform, Original Character(s), Other, deep plot shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-01
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-13 13:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastel_wendigo/pseuds/pastel_wendigo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack feels that there's more to his memories than what he saw in Antartica. Unable to shake off the feeling, he's found himself wandering off to places other than Burgess. He meets a girl that is able to hear, well, 'spirits' and inlists her help to find more about his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Medium

It was a little over a year after the events at Burgess. The Nightmare King was defeated and probably wouldn’t be seen for another hundred years. Most of the guardians recovered from whatever trauma endured and went on with their duties. Jack gained a number of believers, most spawned via word of mouth by the Burgess kids. But besides all of the events that were in favor of the frost spirit, he still felt something was missing.

Sure he got his memories back, but he felt that there were still some pieces of his puzzle to be found. After all, he did access them without the help of Tooth (who, as far as he knew, was the only one who could accurately recover someone’s memories without any after effects).

He couldn’t truly describe the feeling. It would start off as a nagging sensation that would fester and plague his consciousness. He would spend hours – sometimes lasting an entire day – soaring above clouds at frightening heights that any normal human couldn’t hope of surviving. Flying always gave him the time to think. When he wasn’t flying, Jack would mull around his pond or visit Jamie and his friends.

It was rare that he would receive some form of correspondence from any of the guardians. It’s not like any of them actually needed to talk anyway. Not that he cared. He would only occasionally run into Sandy or one of Tooth’s fairies. Even then he wouldn’t actually ‘talk’ just a simple gesture acknowledging each other’s presence.

He would usually return to his home in Burgess, but as time passed, he found he would subconsciously wander to neighboring towns, states if he was especially bored. This time he found himself in a seemingly unremarkable town in Michigan. For the first time in weeks, he felt it a good time for a snow day.

Jack flew leisurely, trailing snow flurries in his wake. Wind bellowed in his ear with a familiar howl. He turned his head and gave a mischievous grin to no one in particular.

He swerved to his left, following a wind current. Jack titled his head. Looking down at the town, he took a nosedive into a nearby park. His grip on his staff tightened as he coasted along a row of trees in the small park.He passed by the occasional person, using random bouts of wind to knock off hats or cause them to slip over ice, all while chuckling at his antics.

Balancing himself with his staff, he landed on a tree branch that was sticking out slightly. Frost almost immediately crawled across the branch, coating a few leaves with a thin layer of ice in the process.

He scoped out the scene and found the usual: children either accompanied by friends or parents. He rested his head on the crook of his staff. His eyes wandered as he took a breather. They fell on an almost empty bench occupied by a girl that seemed all too enthralled by the book in her hands. She looked completely absorbed in whatever it was, and that gave Jack an idea.

Jack landed on the bench next to the girl. She shivered from the sudden drop in temperature and smoothed her hair that the frost spirit rustled with the wind. She looked back down at her book. Jack tilted his head ‘Watcha got there?’ The girl’s eyebrows furrowed and quickly returned her concentration to the book. 'Ghosts, huh? Guess Jamie'snot the only one obsessed with that stuff.' he commented, not expecting anything back. He still kept the quirk of talking to people who couldn’t see him even after gaining believers. To his surprise, the girl slammed the book closed and walked away in a huff. Jack leaned on his staff ‘Pfft, what was that about?’

He quickly got off the bench and followed her. He let the wind carry him and landed on the path next to the girl. He twirled his staff between his fingers ‘You’re pretty irritable aren’t ya?’ The girl looked slightly more frustrated than before Jack started following her. She stopped when she reached a crosswalk. She brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. Jack smirked and blew a chilly gust of air towards her. The strands of hair immediately blew behind her before delicately landing in the same spot she had before. Her eyes widened as she cautiously looked behind her and exhaled. Clutching her book tightly, she whispered so faintly Jack was certain he was the only one close enough to hear it ‘Leave me alone.’

  
***

Jack leaned forward ‘Wh...What’d you say?’ She spun her head around and yelled at something (or someone) that Jack thought may be behind him. ‘I said leave me alone!’ After realizing her outburst may have been geared toward him, she lowered her head and held her book tighter. Jack excitedly grasped his staff and chuckled under his breath. ‘She can hear me..she-she can hear me!’ ‘Of course I can hear you, you jerk.’ she hissed.

Now that caught him off guard. He gripped his staff with both hands and casually floated in front of her. ‘Can you..see me?’ The girl rolled her eyes and groaned. She didn’t answer. She let out a puff of air and walked across the street. Jack followed, unrelenting ‘Can you see me?’ She quietly responded in an aggressive tone ‘What do you think?’

She turned a corner, still holding the book, and came to a small apartment complex. Jack soon came after. ‘I don’t see why you’re mad I mean I didn’t do anything!’ He heard the girl give out a huff and walk up a short flight of stairs. She looked around and sighed. She leaned on a wall ‘Look. I have no idea where you are but you can’t follow me in here, alright?’ She bent down a retrieved a small key from under a mat. 'Who said I wanted to follow you?' She laughed 'Hah, look what you just did! You followed me for a frickin' block.' She unlocked the door to the room and quickly walked in, slamming the door in Jack's face.

'Psh, what was that all about.' he muttered. He twirled his staff between his fingers and paced in front of the door. For him, this was weird. He was used to children's reactions of caution mixed with wonder. Then again, this person wasn't a child. For all he knew, she thought of him as something malevolent.

  
***

She threw her book on a nearby chair. As she made her way to her room, she tugged off her navy beanie and unzipped her sweater. She slammed that door too, and let herself drop on her bed with a heavy sigh. She brought her hands up and rubbed her scalp. This was the fourth one this week. It was growing to be unbearable. She couldn't tell which voice was her own at times. They would change with each day, sometimes sounding female one day and male the next. Hell, sometimes she couldn't even tell.

It would usually start off with a harsh whisper, almost like they're wanting the contact. But it would sound fuzzy, like a faint white noise. Then, the voice would become clearer and understandable. That's when it would drive her crazy. The voices came in an entire spectrum, ranging from pleading cries to earsplitting screams.To her understanding, the voices that became clearer the fastest were the ones she needed to avoid. With this new one, the one that followed her, that one was different.

That one had no static, no fuzzy background. It was almost as if she could feel whatever it was breathing down her neck, like it was something physical. What struck her as odd and terrifying at the same time was the fact that the voice didn't sound like it was coming from her head. It sounded like it belonged to a living person.

Jack hadn't realized how much his presence disturbed the girl. He flew off, thinking it was better to forget the encounter.

The entire time he was flying he thought about the event and how it could have played out. He knew for sure that she wasn't a believer (she couldn't see him, obviously), yet she could still hear him. Before he knew it, he was face-to-face with a tree.

He erratically swerved to the side, dodging slightly lower trees. He let the wind carry him upwards, stopping when he was sure that he was clear of any plant life. He took in the scene. He recognized this forest. It was definitely exotic, that much was certain. Now that he thought of it, the atmosphere wasn't as chilly as he remembered when he started flying back in Michigan. It felt almost warm, but had a hanging stuffy-ness that could only be provided with excess precipitation. He knew where he was. He turned around, his gaze following the slope of a gigantic mountain. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimmer of something that shouldn't be seen in a mountain. Something golden.

Tooth's palace.


End file.
